Graham splits with Lugar on Afghan cost concerns

By Daniel Libit

11/29/09 10:22 AM EST

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Sunday dismissed as "ridiculous" the chatter from those, including Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), about the stress the U.S. participation in Afghanistan is putting on the American economy.

"This whole idea of have we been spending enough, and the Afghan war is the problem to me is ridiculous," Graham said on ABC's "This Week."

"We have been spending money on stimulus packages, growing the government in appropriation bills by double digits." he said. "The whole thing is a sham."

He made these remarks even as Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, was on CNN calling for a sober conversation about the country's trillion-dollar deficit in the context of the Afghanistan war.

"What is the capacity of our country to finance this particular situation?” Lugar said of the Afghan war, noting that the US needed to make certain that it could finance other future military needs.

Graham said he would look to help pay for Afghanistan by cutting current costs elsewhere.

"It would be a good exercise for Congress to look to trim up spending," Graham said.